PARK AND CEMETERY. 
235 
the “Land Account” would then be the cost 
of the land that is to be subdivided and 
sold as lots or as single graves. This land 
should be subdivided into sections, each of 
which should be carefully measured. Only 
a very few sections should be improved 
and offered for sale at a time, the fewer 
the better, in the interest of accurate 
statistics. The cost of improving each sec- 
tion should be carefully kept account of. 
An entry should be made : “Improved 
Land (Section ) to Land. For 
square feet of land improved to put in con- 
dition for sale.” 
When the improvements are finished, 
"Improved Land Account” will show the 
cost of the land to be offered for sale, 
including the original cost of the land or 
ground. Knowing the exact area of the 
land improved, the cost per square foot 
can be easily ascertained. 
Lot sales : When lots or single graves 
are sold the exact measurements are re- 
corded. In closing the books the follow- 
ing entries should be made : “Lot Sales 
to Improved Land. square feet at 
per foot. Single Grave Sales to Improved 
Land. square feet at per foot. 
To charge sales with the cost of land 
sold.” 
When these entries are made, Land Ac- 
count will represent the cost of the raw or 
unimproved land, and Improved Land Ac- 
count the cost of the improved lands not 
yet sold. Each entry in the ledger in these 
two accounts should be supplemented by a 
quantity amount in the “Remarks” column, 
furnishing a running inventory of the acres 
and feet represented by cash balance. As 
there are 43,560 square feet in an acre, it is 
necessary to carry out the cost per square 
foot to several decimals of a cent, in order 
to be at all accurate. 
Perpetual care reserve : Knowing the 
cost of the sales, it is next necessary to 
find the net selling price realized. The 
price realized is subject to reduction for 
the amount to be credited to the Perpet- 
ual Care Reserve. A journal entry should 
be made charging “Lot Sales" and “Single 
Grave Sales,” and crediting “Reserve for 
Perpetual Care” with the amount. If the 
total is easily ascertainable, the entry need 
not be made until the end of the year. 
Tn order to protect the lot owners, an 
amount equal to the credit of the reserve 
should be paid over to a trustee, who 
should invest it in interest-bearing securi- 
ties. The amount thus paid over is charged 
to the trustee. When investments are 
made, the trustee is credited and “Care 
Fund Securities” charged. The care fund 
thus consists of two amounts, the invest- 
ments and the uninvested cash in the hands 
of the trustees. 
As the care fund, by this method, con- 
sits of contributions by actual lot owners, 
the interest on the fund is payable to the 
cemetery association, to be used in caring 
for the lots of these owners. As the prop- 
erty is to be used as a park, at some future 
time, the general land must be treated as a 
wasting asset, since its value will eventual- 
ly disappear, as far as the cemetery asso- 
ciation is concerned. The reserve against 
this loss and the depreciation reserve 
against the buildings should provide a fund 
out of which capital can be repaid. 
Miscellaneous income and expense : Sep- 
arate accounts should be kept with each 
source of income — e. g.. Greenhouse Re- 
ceipts (receipts from the sale of flowers and 
plants), charging greenhouse account with 
all labor, expense and supplies, so that the 
profit or loss can be accurately ascertained. 
The same method should be followed with 
"Grave Digging,” “Burial Vaults,” etc. 
Depreciation : The moment a building is 
completed that moment does depreciation 
begin. What are some of the causes of 
depreciation? Employment or use; lapse 
of time; obsolescence; inadequacy; acci- 
dents. 
There are a number of ways of treating 
depreciation, the most common being to 
charge off a fixed sum annually, so that at 
the end of the period of expected useful- 
ness the value remaining will be the same 
as the scrap of residual value. A better 
way, I think, is to charge off the largest 
amount the first year with a decreasing 
amount each year thereafter during the 
life of the asset. The reason for this is, 
that as the asset grows older it is con- 
stantly requiring more and more to keep 
it in good and usable condition. In this 
way, as the charge for depreciation de- 
creases, the charges for maintenance and 
repairs increase, making a more even 
charge against the revenues of operation, 
year by year. 
Horses and wagons should be valued at 
the end of each year at what they are then 
worth. Small tools should be valued in 
the same manner as horses and wagons. 
They are apt to get lost, mislaid and are 
easily carried away. 
Supplies and stores : A store and sup- 
ply room should be provided and kept 
locked. As supplies are given out they 
should be kept account of and charged to 
the particular work for which they are to 
be used. 
So far as possible, everything applicable 
to different departments or divisions of the 
work should be charged to the work di- 
rectly (as we say in manufacturing, at the 
point of the tool), so as to leave the small- 
est possible amount to be charged to Gen- 
eral Expense and Administration. Tools 
should be supplied and supplies given out 
from store room only in such quantity as 
necessary for the work or job under way. 
Special care and endowments : Accurate 
records should be kept of the time and 
material used for each. They should be 
charged with their proper proportion of 
“Overhead” or “General Expense and Ad- 
ministration,” as hereinafter explained, as 
it is necessary that such work be super- 
vised and it also entails expense to keep 
proper record of these funds and to look 
after their investment. 
Manner of apportioning “Overhead” or 
“General Expense and Administration” : 
The most satisfactory manner is on the 
“Man Hour" basis. From your pay-rolls, 
at the close of the month, ascertain the 
total number of hours worked. Dividing 
the total of your “General Expense and 
Administration” by the total number of 
hours will give the charge per hour to be 
charged to each department or division of 
the work. 
Manner of apportioning Labor and Ex- 
pense between General Care and Perpetual 
Care: At the close of each year an in- 
ventory should be taken of improved land 
sold and unsold, also the area of drives 
and roadways in use. From this can be 
ascertained the proportion or percentage 
of improved land sold. Knowing this pro- 
portion or percentage, at the close of each 
month, for the ensuing year, we charge 
“Perpetual Care” with die proportion of 
labor and expense for care of grounds, 
drives and roadways, that the percentage 
of improved land sold bears to improved 
land unsold. As the income is received 
from “Care Fund Investments,” it is cred- 
ited to “Perpetual Care.” In no other way 
is it possible to know that the amounts 
being set aside are sufficient to take care 
of the cemetery as a burial park after all 
the lots are sold and there is no other in- 
come. No one asociation can take the plan 
of another as a guide for the reason pre- 
viously stated, as the requirements for 
perpetual care vary so largely, as to the 
local conditions of operation and adminis- 
tration. 
The accounts “General Care” and “Per- . 
petual Care” may be used as controlling 
accounts, and subsidiary accounts kept with 
the different items entering into same, as 
Watering, Sodding, Seeding, Weeding, etc. 
The suggestion that a certain number of 
lots be reserved and sold last, to create a 
perpetual care fund, is a most vicious one 
and should never be considered, as too 
many things might occur to prevent the 
sale of such lots entirely, delay the sale for 
a very long time, or materially reduce the 
price at which they may eventually be 
sold. 
Contingencies : The amount to be set 
aside for perpetual care should be ample — • 
more than ordinarily required, based on 
earnings of not more ffian 3 -per cent. 
None of us can tell what rate of interest 
to be obtained from gilt edge investments 
will be ICO or even 50 years in the future, 
much less in perpetuity. We do know that 
the rate of interest on such investments 
has been gradually decreasing in the past. 
The only thing we can do, therefore, is to 
prepare for the future to the best of our 
ability. Another consideration, also, is the 
fact that standards or requirements of 
perpetual care are being raised higher and 
